Death Of A Career Politician

Like a lot of people, the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy caused me to stop and think for a few seconds. My first thought, even before any consideration of his family, was, “There goes another career politician, and we’re getting closer to where we should be.” I don’t feel too badly for his family because even though they’ve had to endure their fair share of heartache and plain bad luck, they’ve also had their time in the spotlight and have been able to wield their power in this country and around the world for long enough.

To me, Senator Kennedy was the perfect example of a career politician. I don’t like career politicians and I have always been for term limits at every level of government. I feel that government needs new blood every four to eight years. I think eight years is a fine limit for the president because you have to allow time for the usual partisan politics and many programs a president endorses take years to be refined and voted into law.

But at a lower level it’s necessary for those limits because representatives must be able to stay in touch with their constituents. It’s like a government blood transfusion. The wants and needs of those represented change constantly, and you can’t tell me Senator Kennedy was out there with his constituents enough to know what they wanted or needed at this point in time. Healthcare reform, the legacy of his life in politics, is an issue that’s been on the front-burner since 1969. A lot has happened in our society since then, things have changed, and those changes should be addressed.

When I was younger I felt it was only a matter of time before the things I thought should be legalized or voted into law would see their day. I figured when the voting members of the house and senate were my age I’d start to see some real reform and change. That hasn’t happened because we’ve still got representatives there that are in their sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties that have been there almost their entire lives! How do these clowns know what I want if they’re barely physically able to be driven to wherever it is they vote to cast one? Do they get my “pulse” from the Internet?

The only way to infuse new ideas and approaches to our problems is with new blood. There shouldn’t be a single representative in any house or senate that’s over the age of 65 unless they’re in their first term and representing people concerned about social security and Medicare. I think America took a great first step toward that by electing Obama as president. The guy is out there, conducting town hall meetings, getting out there with the people and listening to them…yet some people actually complain about that.

The president shouldn’t be someone confined to sitting behind a desk and signing papers. The same should be true for the other representatives we elect. American democracy is based on representation of the people BY the people, not some old geezer getting rich on kickbacks and payoffs from special interest groups and big corporations.

Living in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I understand why people have always backed the Kennedys. Their name is everywhere, on almost every building and park in Boston. It was so crazy with Ted that when he ran for re-election he didn’t even have to campaign. He was a landslide winner every time. Do you know what he specialized in doing? He created who knows how many special programs designed to give handouts to people who didn’t even need to try to get them. What did this cost Massachusetts? Bloated government that had to constantly raise taxes to support all of the supposedly “necessary” programs he pushed through.

Now the Commonwealth is broke.

When Mitt Romney came in as governor of this state (a Republican) he began by first cutting unnecessary programs. He trimmed the fat, cut the budget, and really pissed off old Uncle Teddy. After the media war that ensued, Romney decided not to try for a second term and set his sights on the presidency instead. This opened the way for Deval Patrick (a Democrat) as the next governor of the state. He brought back funding for several of Kennedy’s programs and then proceeded to cut or completely eliminate funding for programs needed to assist the elderly, the homeless, and those with developmental disabilities.

Damn Democrats – they’ll get you every time. You can’t turn your back on them for a second before they ram a political hot poker right up your ass.

If someone could have had a chance to take over for Kennedy years ago, say, after his second term, who knows if Massachusetts would be in better shape now. But at least we wouldn’t have been on the exact same collision course for all those decades of Edward Kennedy. Some say we should look at all he’s gotten accomplished, but hell, if I was in office as long as he was I could have gotten a lot done, too. Yes, he got a lot done but it was a lot of unnecessary CRAP that slowly but surely ran the Commonwealth into bankruptcy.

Term limits have been on the agenda in congress for several years. Unfortunately, you can’t expect someone who benefits from unlimited terms to vote down their own way to make a living. Maybe if politics were clean, honest and with no corruption, representative would take the same attitude of those like Abraham Lincoln and many of our early presidents that presided before they all became greedy whores.

You don’t paint your house with old paint. You don’t wipe your ass with used toilet paper and in general, you don’t eat what someone else has just vomited up. We need term limits, ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise, all this “change” people are always talking about will never happen. Everything will stay the course of status quo and we as a society will never progress to where we should be. Just ask those in Europe who have truly free societies without violence and corruption. Yes, Virginia, it is possible.